Numerical Analisys of a Water Heating System Using a Flat Plate Solar Collector

Main Article Content

William Quitiaquez http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9430-2082
José Estupiñan-Campos https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2286-5737
C.A. Isaza Roldán https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5902-6411
Fernando Toapanta-Ramos https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0838-4702
Andrés Lobato-Campoverde https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6073-3439

Abstract

The objective of the present research work was to carry out a numerical analysis by means of CFD of a flat plate solar collector, in addition to a comparison with experimental results. The working fluid reached a maximum outlet temperature of 20.16 °C at 12:00, the value of solar radiation was determined for the geographical coordinates latitude -0.2252 and longitude -77.84; similarly, at this time it was possible to obtain a temperature of 27.12 °C on the collector surface, as peak value. The lowest performance of the heat transfer device was determined at 10:00 with an outlet water temperature and maximum temperature on the collector surface of 18.65 and 20.48 °C, respectively. The experimental results showed a maximum temperature of 20.93 °C and a minimum temperature of 19.4 °C, resulting in a 4.01 % error between the computational simulation and the experimental data.